Chapter 19

Hearing Jia Bei's words, Sun Peng frowned: "You want to find him directly?"

"Exactly!" Jia Bei's teeth ground together: "He's cutting off our source of income; we can't just let him go. Even if he's not making us lose hundreds of thousands of yuan a month, a ten-thousand-yuan bounty can buy a life. We find him, dig him out, and force him to hand over the code. If he doesn't, we'll make him pay the price for ruining our livelihoods. We'll break his hands and see how he writes code then!"

"Are you crazy? If we don't make money, we don't make money, but do you want to get all of us arrested?" Sun Peng felt his eyelids twitching. Jia Bei had always been devious and cunning. If it weren't for his programming skills, he would be nothing more than a street thug, exuding a criminal aura.

Seeing the surprised looks on the others' faces, Jia Bei knew that these code-writing guys lacked the courage and resolve. However, he didn't want to appear too different, so he said, "I was just venting. But now that this guy is not backing down, we at least need to meet him and talk to him face-to-face, right? If this kid doesn't know his place, we can use some intimidation and persuasion. Scaring him a bit is fine, right? He might just be a tech guy. His username sounds tough, but in real life, he might back down once we meet him."

Hearing Jia Bei's words, the others nodded in agreement.

Intimidation and persuasion might not be a bad idea. As long as they could find him, they could try to persuade him first, and if that didn't work, they could resort to intimidation. With their livelihoods on the line, it was worth a try.

Sun Peng also nodded in agreement with Jia Bei's suggestion.

Jia Bei immediately took out his newly bought phone and made a call.

"Old Wu, can you do me a favor? Can you check the account that posted the 'Stone Age Overlord' on your forum? I need the registration IP and the recent login IPs."

On the phone, a man whispered, "Xiao Bei, this isn't something to be done lightly. It violates the forum rules."

Not to be done lightly means it will cost something.

Jia Bei immediately said, "Five hundred, it's just a small favor!"

"This..."

"Thousand!"

"Xiao Bei, let me tell you..."

"Two thousand! Haven't you always wanted to replace that old second-hand phone? Just a few clicks, and you'll have a new one!"

"Alright!" The other person hesitated for a moment and then agreed, "Wait a bit, I'll send it to you on QQ."

After hanging up, Jia Bei looked annoyed, "Damn, two thousand for a few IP addresses. This guy knows we're in a bind."

Sun Peng nodded, his tone relatively calm, "Let's check it out. Two thousand is a small amount. We'll split it according to our shares."

Five minutes later, Jia Bei's QQ received four IP addresses. Everyone gathered around to look, and they all felt something was off.

IP segments have patterns. Anyone with a decent understanding of the internet can roughly tell if an IP is domestic or foreign by looking at the segment, even if they can't pinpoint the exact address.

Jia Bei immediately checked with a tool, and sure enough, all four IPs were overseas.

Two from the United States, one from Japan, and one from South Korea.

This meant that the person had used a proxy from the start of registration and continued to use it for every login.

They were programmers, not hackers. Even if they were hackers, finding the real IP behind a proxy server would require hacking the server and obtaining the server logs, which was technically challenging.

These four IPs immediately dashed Jia Bei's plan to find the person and intimidate them.

"Damn, he's really cautious!" Jia Bei was dejected. Even with his tough attitude, he didn't know where to direct his anger or where to strike, leaving him feeling helpless.

Sun Peng sighed, "It looks like it's going to be a fight to the death. Brothers, let's wait a few more days. If that guy still doesn't want to contact us, we'll disband."

Sun Peng had always disliked Jia Bei. Initially, his "Qian Yu" cheat was doing well, but Jia Bei copied it and released a free version to compete with him, then forced his way into the business. After working together, Sun Peng discovered Jia Bei's numerous flaws. In the current situation, if there was no way out, parting ways might not be a bad thing. At the very least, he could get rid of this bad omen.

Jia Bei also knew that if "Stone Age" couldn't continue, their cooperation would be unnecessary. He could develop cheats independently. The initial reason for partnering with Sun Peng was his sales network, but now, in a week, Sun Peng's network would likely collapse. Without products or market, who would still work with him? At that time, he could lead a team to work independently. If "Stone Age" didn't work, there would be other suitable games.

...

"Sis, can you drive a bit faster? Don't stay next to the big trucks, okay?"

On the national highway, Li Mu reminded Chen Wan, who panicked at the sight of big trucks, not daring to drive fast or overtake. However, the road conditions were poor, and there were many large trucks, carrying coal, goods, and grain, all overloaded and towering high. Driving next to these trucks was very dangerous.

Chen Wan was also anxious, "I don't want to, but I really don't dare to overtake. The cargo on those trucks is so unstable; I'm afraid they might fall on me."

Li Mu sighed, "At this speed of 30 km/h, we'll reach our destination by evening. And driving slowly isn't always safer. Each road has a reasonable speed range; it can't be too high or too low."

Li Mu had seen many cautious new drivers on the highway's left fast lane, driving at 60-70 km/h, thinking it was safer, but in fact, it increased the risk.

"I really don't dare to. I get scared just seeing those big trucks..." Chen Wan knew that driving this way would take at least six hours. Her forehead was covered in tiny beads of sweat.

Li Mu hesitated for a moment and said, "Pull over, let me drive."

"You?" Chen Wan was taken aback, "Do you have a driver's license?"

"No," Li Mu answered matter-of-factly.

"Without a license, how can you drive? Do you even know how?"

"Yes."

"I don't believe you!"

"Don't believe me? This Audi A6 has a 2.8-liter engine, I don't remember the horsepower, but it has a CVT transmission and all-wheel drive. Driving it is simple: press the brake, start the engine, shift to D, release the brake, and press the gas to go. For reversing, shift to R. For red lights, shift to N and pull the handbrake. Got it?"

"..." Chen Wan was stunned. Some of what Li Mu said was correct, but she didn't understand other parts, like CVT and all-wheel drive. She firmly said, "Even if you know, no way!"

"Then will we reach our destination this afternoon?"

"..."

After a few minutes of struggle, Chen Wan decided to take a risk, carefully pulled over, and said to Li Mu, "I'll trust you this once, but you must be extra careful, okay?"

"Got it." Li Mu nodded and said, "I'll be more careful than you. You didn't even use the turn signal when you pulled over."

"You..." Chen Wan was speechless, pouted, and got out of the car, moving to the passenger seat.

Li Mu got into the driver's seat, adjusted the seat, mirrors, and steering wheel. Chen Wan was amazed; this guy seemed to know the car better than she did, handling it with ease.

In fact, many aspects of driving are universal. In his previous life, although Li Mu didn't own a good car, he had driven many different vehicles.

After adjusting, Li Mu shifted to D, released the handbrake, checked the rearview mirror, and turned on the left signal to get back on the road. Once on the road, he quickly increased the speed to about 70 km/h, and on good stretches, he accelerated to 80 km/h or even higher. Although his speed was much faster than Chen Wan's, his driving was much steadier, and each overtaking maneuver was precise and smooth. He even borrowed lanes for overtaking when necessary, handling it perfectly.

After half an hour, Chen Wan was convinced, "Since you drive so well, let's go straight to Jinling."

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